Code Anicrad
by Scott Sackett
Summary: A cross over of Code Lyoko and Sword Art Online. The series takes place a year after the Lyoko Warriors shut down XANA.
1. Chapter 1

**Kadic Academy, France. November 6, 2020.**

Aelita Schaeffer was flying through thick fog. Brilliant white wings beat behind her. A magnificent floating castle materialized out of the fog. She marveled at the size of the castle. The fog then consumed the castle, obscuring it from view. The fog receded again and she was flying over eerily familiar lands filled with millions of people. The sky darkened, and like a flash of lightning, a terrifying symbol filled the sky above her. She then awoke to a thunderous sound of screaming.

 _I need to tell Jeremie._

Ulrich Stern was eating breakfast next to Odd Della Robbia in the cafeteria when Jeremie Belpois and Aelita Schaeffer walked in to join them.

"All I'm saying is that it looks too familiar," said Aelita. She was frustrated. Aelita had told Jeremie about her dream, but he wouldn't listen.

"And all I'm saying is that it's impossible, we turned it off and no one else knows about it," said Jeremie. He was right. They had turned the super computer off a year ago with no sign of Xana since.

"Still, I think we should look into it," she begged, by holding his hand and making puppy eyes.

He sighed, "Ok. I'll keep an eye on it, but I assure you that there is no connection."

When Aelita and Jeremie took their seats at the table, Ulrich asked, "No connection to what?"

"Yeah, what's up?" asked Odd, with a mouth-full of watered down eggs.

"Nothing. Aelita thinks SAO is using assets from Lyoko" said Jeremie, off-handedly.

"What's SAO?" asked Odd, consuming a slice of flaccid bacon.

"SAO, or Sword Art Online, is the world's first VRMMORPG," said Jeremie.

"What's a VRMROPG?" asked Odd, chugging the last of his low fat, 2% milk.

"V-R-M-M-O-R-P-G, AKA, a virtual reality major multiplayer role playing game. Basically WoW, but with full immersion like Lyoko," said Jeremie.

"And I think it is Lyoko, just reprogrammed," said Aelita, still pushing her point to Jeremie.

"What's WoW?" asked Odd, still very confused and very hungry.

Jeremie dropped his fork. "Look, can we talk about this later. Please?"

"Fine," said Aelita, crossing her arms and ignoring her food.

"If you're not," asked Odd, eyeing Aelita's food.

"Yes Odd, you can have my food," said Aelita, smiling with her arms crossed.

"YAY!" Odd pulled Aelita's tray towards himself.

Yumi Ishiyama and William Dunbar entered the cafeteria.

"I need to get to work on our project," said Jeremie. He stood up, returned his tray and left the cafeteria.

Yumi took Jeremy's seat next to Aelita.

"Hey Yumi," said Ulrich.

"Hey," said Yumi. She smiled back, but it faded when she notice the worry on Aelita's face.

"Aelita, what's wrong?"

"I had a sort of dream vision about Sword Art Online. The short story is that XANA is back. I have a feeling that somehow Lyoko and Sword Art Online are connected, and that XANA is involved," said Aelita.

"We're just supposed to believe a dream? Quit being ridiculous," said William.

"No, we're believing in Aelita. Have you told Jeremie?" asked Yumi.

"Yes, but he doesn't believe me. I eventually convinced him to monitor the system for any activity from XANA, but nothing has happened," said Aelita.

"No activity from XANA," said William sarcastically, "I'm so surprised."

Yumi turned and scowled at William. "William, please." Turning back to Aelita, "Is there anything we could do to help,"

"I've wanted to check the factory, but Jeremie and I have a project to focus on," said Aileta.

"We can all go," said Ulrich. "Anything to get me out of math."

"No Ulrich," said Yumi. "You're already close to failing your classes."

"Since when did you become my mom," said Ulrich.

"Yumi is right, plus if all of you go, Jeremie will notice," said Aelita.

"Fine. Come on Odd, we need to get to class," said Ulrich. He picked up and waited for Odd.

"One moment please," said Odd. He shoved the remaining bits of bacon, eggs and biscuits into his mouth, grabbed his tray, and left with Ulrich.

Yumi shook her head, and sighed.

"I understand. William and I will go check it out for you." Still looking at Aelita. "Right William?"

"Yeah. Sure. It's not like we've got anything else to do." William stands up to stretch.

"You're right, we don't," said Yumi.

"Thanks guys. Really," said Aelita. She gave Yumi a hug.

"No problem. You just focus on your project," said Yumi, returning the hug.

"What? No hug for me." William held his arms open.

Aelita just scowled at him, let Yumi go and left for class.

"What's her problem," William, crossed his arms.

"You know she doesn't like you, so just don't worry about it. Come on, let's go." Yumi stands up and walks out of the cafeteria with William.

Leaving the school campus, Yumi and William grabbed their skateboards. After Aelita had told Yumi about SAO, using her mobile, she did some research. Although Yumi didn't see a connection between SAO and Lyoko visually, she believed what Aelita had said about feeling the connection. Aelita had spent years living in Lyoko, so she would have a deeper connection to it than anyone.

As they approached the factory, Yumi noticed how little it had changed. The only difference was a slight increase of rust and peeling paint.

William's voice seemed to stutter as he skated over the rough concrete. "You think any hobos have moved in while we were gone?"

"Only if they were stupid or insane. Jeremie marked the factory as a biological hazard to others away." Yumi pointed at the "Biological Hazard" sign posted on the door. "He also hacked the city's zoning board to make it official. Saying the factory contained nuclear waste."

"Oh yeah. I knew that." William swerved violently to avoid a hole.

Yumi smiled and shook her head. They dismounted their boards and entered the factory. Before them was a ledge and two frayed ropes. But before she could relish the nostalgia, William ran towards the ledge.

"William! Wait-" She was too late.

Once he'd reached the edge, he jumped, reaching out for the nearest rope. He caught the rope, his momentum carried him a couple of meters until the rope snapped. She watched as he fell. Still clinging to the rope, he placed his skate board beneath himself. He hit the ground with both feet on his board. Flailing, and unable to control his speed or direction, he slammed into the elevator door and collapsed onto the ground.

She dropped her board and jumped down. When she hit the ground, she rolled and walked over to William. She laughed as she helped him up. "Woah!" He placed a hand on his head and leaned on her for support.

"I think you'll have to carry me the rest of the way." He looked at her, feigning pain.

"Nice try." Yumi pressed the button to open the elevator doors. "You can let go of the rope now."

"Yeah." He dropped the rope and supported himself. "Thanks."

The doors opened and they stepped into the elevator. Yumi punched a code in, allowing them to travel below the elevators marked floors.

"What do we do if Lyoko is back on, just turn it off?" he asked.

"If it's on, we'll investigate and text Aelita before we do anything else."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Yumi scanned the room and saw that the computer was on. She ran up to the computer and noticed an email displayed on its monitor. She read it aloud.

"Dear Franz Hopper,

I must thank you for creating such a wonderful thing. When I began working on my game, I heard that someone had created a way for gamers to fully immerse themselves in a virtual world. After doing some research, I discovered the name Franz Hopper. I knew I would have to contact you. But after so many years of being ignored, I had to take action. But there was always something stopping me from accessing your research online. Like some kind of entity was in the system, working to keep me out. So I changed tactics and hunted down the computer you were using. My sources led me to this factory and what I found amazed me. It took me weeks to find the computer itself, and once I did I got to work. After months of programming, I was able to unlock your code for my purpose. Now millions will experience this world you created. Instead of the full-body scanners you developed, my users will interface using a helmet, Nerve Gear, that intercepts their thoughts and transmits them to the game. Thus, allowing gamers to play from their own homes. I'm dubbing the game Sword Art Online. I'll be placing you're name in the credits, and I leave this note and others in hope that you'll contact me. I want to give you royalties and a share in my company. Of course we can't get into those details until you contact me.

Sincerely, Akihiko Kayaba

P.S. You never put a patent on your work, so don't try and sue me."

There was a brief of silence before Yumi told William to look around for more evidence of Kayaba. She walked away from the monitor and looks at the holographic view of Lyoko. Instead of Lyoko, there was an iron-and stone floating castle, consisting of a hundred floors connected by stair ways. Each floor was home to many villages, forests, prairies, deserts, hills and mountains. She could see thousands of character icons gathered on the first floor.

"I couldn't find anything else related to Kayaba, but I did get an idea," said William when he approached Yumi.

"What's that?" Yumi returned to the monitors.

"Before we call the others I could go in and scout it out."

Yumi could see mischief in his eyes. What harm could there be in letting him in. Plus, she could see Lyoko through his eyes using the live feed.

"Alright. Head back to the scanners and I'll virtualize you. Once you're in I'll text Aelita what we found."

"Cool."

William returned to the elevator, and rode it down to the scanner room.

Yumi grabbed the headset, then pulled up the commands to scan William into the supercomputer. Remembering what Jeremie had taught her, she began the process.

"Transfer, William."

"Scanner."

"Virtualization."

She hit enter and William was virtualized into the supercomputer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tokyo, Japan. November 6, 2020**

"Link start!"

Kirigaya Kazuto's bedroom faded to black, and with flash of light he was in a new reality.

He was in Sword Art Online.

There was light, and he could see that he was standing in a gray room. The only object within the room was the menu screen hovering in front of him. Tapping the screen, his perspective shifted from 1st to 3rd.

This was the character creation menu, allowing him full control of his avatars appearance. Unlike many other MMORPG games, SAO only has human avatars. The limitation is due to the full dive system, which was based on the human body. Other than that, players are allowed to fully alter the appearance, age, athletic build and gender of their avatar.

The first thing he did was raise his age from 15 to 26. He altered his face for a chiseled-handsome look, and changed his hair from black to brown. Satisfied with his new look, he tapped the finish and name avatar button.

The character creation menu was replaced by a text box, and a keyboard. Tapping on the virtual keyboard, he typed "Kirito", and hit enter.

The walls faded, and Kirito stood next to a portal within a large city.

 _I'm back!_

Kirito ran a check on his inventory hoping that Kayaba had changed his mind about resetting the accounts of those who played the beta. Kirito had played the beta up to floor 10, earning him more information on the games content then most people. He would use his beta experience to level up quickly and gain an edge on the other players.

Kirito only had his default equipment.

 _Oh well, I'll just have to play the game like everyone else._

Kirito wandered through the Town of Beginnings completing various quest such as dispatching monsters, escorting traders, collecting and delivering items. After an hour he had leveled up 3 times and upgraded his equipment. Exhausted, he sat upon a bench and withdrew a loaf of sweet bread. He was about to take a bite when someone said, "Hey, do you have a minute to talk?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Floor 1, Anicrad. November 6, 2020**

William experienced a sharp pain before being materialized about 6 feet in the air.

"Crap."

He fell, landing hard on his face.

"Are you okay," said Yumi.

"Just peachy," William rubbed his head, surprised by the lack of swelling.

"Walk it off. The others are on the way, and I want to get as much info as possible before we send them in."

"Right."

William ran his hand through his hair. It wasn't as spikey as he remembered.

"Hey, how's my hair?"

"Your hair?" Yumi asked. "Where is your stuff?"

She was right. William was missing his signature outfit and more importantly, his buster sword.

William looked around, then down at himself. He was wearing blue tunic, brown trousers, black boots, light armor and a sword.

 _What a shame. I really liked that sword._

He stood in a grassy field near a large city. Seeing nothing else, he made his way to the only sign of civilization.

The buildings had medieval architecture, cobblestone walls and thatched roofs. Players and NPC's were easily distinguishable due to the fact that all the players were equipped with weapons and armor.

"Are you seeing this?" He pointed out a large structure in the middle of the city. The structure was ornate and emitted a bright light. People would pass through the light as if it was some kind of portal.

"I am. I'm also trying to access the live feeds of the other people, but I keep getting errors."

"Invasion of privacy much?"

"Whatever. Try talking to someone."

William sighed, messed up his hair and approached the closest person.

"Hey, do you have a minute to talk?" William asked a masculine young man with mid-length brown hair, who sat upon a bench with a loaf of bread in his hands.

"Not really. What do you need?" The young man put away the bread and crossed his arms.

"I had a few questions about this game. Like, how do you play?"

The young performed a spectacular face palm.

"Didn't you play the tutorial?"

"I must have accidently skipped it. So can you help me or not?"

"Yeah. Follow me." The young man walked away.

"Wait up!"

Kirito was slightly annoyed by the young man he'd met. Having just turned in the multiple quests he'd been working on all morning, he was itching to start some new ones.

 _Who doesn't play the tutorial to a game without actually knowing how to play?_

But he couldn't just ignore someone who needed help. And the guy kind of looked like Kirito in reality. Smiling to himself, Kirito led the young man to field of low level creatures.

"What's your name?"

"William. Yours?"

"Kirito. Is this your first VR game?"

William seemed talk to himself before responding.

"Not exactly, but that's not important." William said, clearly wanting to avoid the topic.

 _I guess it's not my business._

"Let's start with a simple sword skill then." Kirito unsheathed his sword. "Do as I do."

Holding his sword parallel to the ground, Kirito focused on a nearby boar. The blade turned blue. He stepped forward, causing both him and the sword lunged at the boar.

Despite being a simple sword skill, the boar died with one strike.

"Your turn."

"Why can't I just swing my sword?"

"You can, but most people don't have any real experience with swords."

William unsheathed his sword and charged a boar.

The boar huffed and charged back.

With a yell, William swung his sword.

And missed.

The boar then mauled William.

Kirito couldn't help but laugh as William struggled with such an easy creature.

Ashamed, but mostly angry, William used his sword to decapitate the boar.

"Like I said, most people don't have any actual sword skills."

"I've never fought a boar before, but I bet I could take you on."

"Oh really?" Kirito pulled up his menu. "It's a duel then."

William seemed to have a heated argument with himself before accepting Kirito's duel request.

A countdown timer for 60 seconds materialized above them.

"No sword skills." William swung his sword back and forth. "Let's see what kinda _real_ experience you have."

Kirito smirked and readied his blade.

William took a deep breath and gripped his sword with two hands.

50 seconds.

Kirito shifted his feet, as did William.

40 seconds.

Kirito studied William's stance. It became clear to him that William would strike hard and fast.

30 seconds.

To Kirito, the time before duels always felt like an eternity.

20 seconds.

Kirito moved in to a defensive position.

10 seconds.

The air was still.

"Fight. Start."

William charged, and Kirito prepared to parry his strike when both were consumed by light.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Floor 1, Anicrad. November 6, 2020_**

"What the hell?"

One moment William was charging at Kirito, the next he was standing in a crowd within the hamlet.

"Something's wrong." Kirito studied the crowd.

"How very observant-"

"Quiet." Kirito pointed at the sky above the deactivated portal. "What is that symbol?"

"Yumi." William felt goosebumps. "Are you seeing this?"

"I am."

I the sky was something that shouldn't be.

A dot within three circles. Four bars were attached to the outer, third, circle. One was centered and pointing up. Another was centered and pointing down. It was flanked on either side by bars, each facing away at a 45 degree angle.

This was the eye of X.A.N.A., the artificial intelligence hell-bent on destroying humanity. The same one they deactivated a year ago.

 _Damn! This isn't good._

"I'm pulling you out."

"No." William protested. "We need to see what's happening!"

Yumi responded with static.

"Yumi?"

"No, it's Jeremie."

"It's about time you showed up, Ein-."

Kirito punched William in the arm.

"Stop talking to yourself." Kirito's face was grim. "It looks like someone is about to give a speech."

In the sky, below Xana's eye, was a man in armor. The armor was red and the man's face was hidden beneath a large hood.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online," said the man.

"Who is that?" said William.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba."

"Oh."

"Some of you may have already noticed that there is no log-out option within the menu."

The crowd, Kirito included, opened their menus and searched frantically for the log-out option.

"The only way out now is to beat all 100 levels of Anicrad," said Kayaba. "Or to die."

"No way," said Kirito.

The crowd was panicking. Those not frozen by disbelief were unable to leave the area due to an invisible wall.

"Any attempts to remove the Nerve Gear will cause the microwave emitters within to increase in frequency, thus exposing your brain to high temperatures and killing you."

Many people were crying, screaming or silent with shock.

"Unfortunately, some have already attempted to escape and have lost their lives," said Kayaba.

"Is that true?" said William.

"Yes," said Jeremie. "It is all over the news."

 _Damn._

"William, listen, I cannot devirtualize you until I know that it is safe to do so."

"Am I stuck here by myself?"

"No. Everyone, besides Aelita and I are being virtualized despite my better judgement."

"Is there something wrong with you?" said Kirito.

"What?" William pointed at Kayaba. "Look, Kayaba is taking again."

"One final thing before I let you all go." Kayaba waved his hand and everyone was consumed by light.

Once the light dissipated, the ratio between men and women dropped dramatically.

"You're a guy?" could be heard all around.

"Hang on?" said a feminine looking young man next to him. "Why didn't you change?"

William just shrugged his shoulders. He was more concerned about how he would get out of SAO.

"I guess it doesn't matter." Kirito grabbed his shoulder. "We need to go. Now!"

William nodded. The crowd began to stir a people realized that they were no longer trapped by the invisible wall.

Having pushed their way through the crowd, Kirito and William ran into a secluded alley way and paused to catch their breaths.

"I'm leaving this town," said Kirito. "The fields around here are going to get crowded. Come with me and I will help you to become stronger."

"I would, but I need to find my friends. Go on without me, just remember that you owe me a duel."

"Agreed. We will stay in touch. Find me if you ever need help." Kirito ran from the alley.

"Hey Kirito."

Kirito turned around.

"Get a haircut, we can't be seen with the same style."

Kirito laughed and continued to run.


End file.
